Weekly Space Hangout - 2012-01-12

The Weekly Space Hangout for January 12, 2012. This week we discussed the possibility there are more planets than stars, new dark matter maps, Tricorder X-Price, the colour of the Milky Way, and the Dawn Mission.

• Category

  Science & Technology

[pryletoncyo]

6 years ago I used to think Emily Lakdawalla was the greatest looking woman in astronomy. Damn, she got married. Is Pamela married?

[astrospherevids]

Yup, she's married.

[mutleyeng]

pretty sure you couldnt point kepler at a different region of sky. the ccd chips have been tailored for that specific pattern of stars

[jeancharlierr]

you guys are awesome :)

I get so much news, knowledge and fun with you :)

Thank you very very much for your time :)

[Ravenclth]

The probes left us a message on pluto, its most likley "Bob was here first! Suck it Gary!"

[Ravenclth]

Right at the start, Phil looks like hes gonna kill someone.. or is it just me? Anyway he looks maaaadd!

[pryletoncyo]

Earth return is done using the same lunar orbiting Soyuz, the cosmonaut has a simple landing/departure "craft", almost like a trolley.

[pryletoncyo]

To add, the Soviet plan for Moon landing was simple. Two heavy Souyz craft are launched, dock in low Earth orbit. The other carries the crew, the other carries the fuel and landing craft. Cosmonauts move to the Earth departure stage with the fuel for trans-lunar injection, undock and execute TLI. The trans-lunar Soyuz brakes for Lunar orbit, and a single cosmonaut performs a landing using a space suit.

[pryletoncyo]

After the initial Luna probes and the Lunokhod robotic landing the funding for the the human lunar landing was cut, it was deemed too dangerous. N1 project went on until it was cancelled after four failed tests of the launch vehicle. It is generally agreed that N1 failed because it used over 32 engines in the first stage alone, while Saturn used only four. N1 failed in the first stage, before separation every time.

[pryletoncyo]

Hoagland never worked in the space industry in any meaningful way. There are artifacts on the Moon, Soviet Union landed a lot of probes there before the US, and found it cold, inhospitable and boring. 2001: Space Odyssey was a science fiction movie, not reality. It was a spiritual movie, according to the writer, Clarke.

There are no other "artifacts" on the Moon that we know of. The Moon has been imaged now better than the Earth itself, oceans of the Earth are less known.